Do we need metrics gRPC Request Message Count (istio_request_messages_total)?

gRPC Request Message Count (istio_request_messages_total) and Request Count (istio_requests_total) are having the same labels.

Why can’t we just use istio_requests_total{request_protocol="grpc"} to get the same thing?

Thanks!!

It’s because one gRPC request can start a long lived connection that stays open, and many messages may travel over that connection. So, you could have 1 request that ends an hour after it starts, with thousands of messages traveling over that connection.